


and time goes quicker

by haalander (orphan_account)



Series: and the ships are left to rust [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Death, Full Shift Werewolves, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Mythological Elements, POV Derek, Selkies, selkie!Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-10
Updated: 2014-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-04 02:22:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1762819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/haalander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Maybe you are.” Said Derek, leaning his body back against his propped elbows, “your entire story up to now could be a lie. You may be the prince of a marine realm for all I know.” </p><p>Stiles shook his head, resting his chin over his crossed arms and staring out at the ocean with an unblinking stare. “If only, though it wouldn’t be a very pleasant kingdom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and time goes quicker

**Author's Note:**

> Oh how I love to write in this carefully constructed style. Also I suggest you read the first part of this series before this one; y'know, cause that would make more sense.
> 
> Forgive and point out mistakes please.

Two weeks of repulsive weather had passed before Derek saw the selkie again. The ocean displayed its wrath in a frightening performance of roaring waters, knife like winds, and blistering rains. There was no shelter from the raging squall, the seas sang their songs and demanded their voices be heard. The wolf had spent this terrible time away from the battered beach and amongst the sparse, Oceanside trees. They stroked his fur with gentle boughs and spoke stories of old to him in hushed voices, stories knitted with their thin, delicate needles.

Once the moon had curled in its bed of stars and the winds howled a timbre that could rival that of a wolf, Derek thought of the selkie. Where could he be in this powerful tempest? Would he be wrapped in the fur of a seal, hidden amongst the rocks as his Mother Ocean bellowed her hymn of fury? Would he slip out of his skin and hide within the cradle of trees, just as Derek had done? The wolf got little sleep during these weeks, his dreams plagued by speckled fur and pale skin.

When the black clouds finally cracked open and the fingers of the sun dipped through, Derek allowed himself to return to the beach. The sandy terrain was strewn with the limbs of Sitkas and thick strings of soft seaweed. There were a few gulls on the beach, puffing their feathers at each other and picking through the strewn debris. They accepted Derek’s presence but did not wholly acknowledge him, the wolf and the seabirds were not friends. Not even acquaintances, but they lived within the same domain and therefore commanded respect from one another. It was often that Derek wished he shared the tongue of the gulls, living a life of silence was neither pleasant nor desirable.

The wolf strode across the water-packed sand, tasting and scenting the moist air for signs of life. He was lucky to happen across several clam beds and quickly shoveled up the damp sand with his large paws, pulling the sea life from their earthy homes. Derek cracked their hard shells open with his teeth and licked out their soft insides. Clams were not his favorite meal, tasting of rubbery fat and salt, but they would fill his stomach and that was all that mattered.

It was there that the selkie made his unexpected appearance. His podgy body a mound of glossy fur that had been settled onto a nest of beached seaweeds, eyes closed and dozing soundly on the sun warmed florae. A seagull stood perched on his back, lazily nabbing up the flies that landed on selkies’ coat, perhaps mistaking his still form for a corpse.

Without much pondering, Derek scooped up several clams with his jaws and started trotting toward the kipping creature. As he neared, the gull eyed him with a curious air before spreading its black tipped wings and launching its body into the open sky, squawking loudly as it did so. The sudden movement seemed to startle the selkie, who jerked to wakefulness and immediately met Derek’s dark eyes with his own russet colored ones.

Derek stilled, unsure of whether the selkie would turn to flush into the waters or permit the wolf to approach him. The ocean hummed quietly to his side, cold waves gliding up the shoreline and pushing at Derek’s paws, as if it was blessing him to move toward its beautiful child. Tipping his head downward, Derek hunched his sleek body in a stab to appear innocuous.

The selkie gazed placidly at him, eyes glinting with intrigue. His wet nose twitching as he tested the wolf’s uniquely preternatural scent. Moving from his curled pose, the selkie shed from his seal skin in a fluid and practiced change.

“You’re quite an alluring wolf, aren’t you?” The selkie spoke, his voice trilling and light, like the gentle hum of running water. He pulled his supple pelt over his shoulders like a shimmering cape.

Derek yipped low in his throat and pressed the inclination to thump his tail; he was not an animal and would not act as such, relying solely on primal instinct to curry favor with the seal would be a ruinous oversight. Tilting his head, the selkie examined Derek with honey tinted eyes. In the hide of human, the selkie’s eyes were sharp and intensive, clever and brimming with calculating intelligence that seemed unequaled. “But you are not just a mere wolf.” He discerned shrewdly. The wolf dared closer, depositing his offer onto the bed of sea vegetation.

Paying little mind to the gifted bivalves, the selkie lifted a sinewy arm and laced his fingers into Derek’s dark fur. “Mother’s display has not been kind to you, I see.” He spoke as he combed slender fingers through the wolf’s fur. “Your pelt is heavy and thick with salt. It must not be pleasant; your fur was not woven for the sea, after all.” Derek huffed, hot breath blasting across the selkie’s colorless skin. The selkie smiled; a soft, delicate thing.

“Your kind has many names. We call you Wolf Brothers. We’re rather comparable, if you put your mind to it.” It was laughable. Wolves were beasts of blood and death, quickness and slavering jaws. How could such a soft creature consider him a Brother? How could velvet fur and wide eyes compare to rippling muscles and menacing regard?

“You doubt me?” The seal being stated, fingers tightening in Derek’s fur for a moment before withdrawing. “I suppose you would, if you have not seen the power a seal holds within its home. We swim faster in the waters than a wolf will run on his lands.” This was laughable as well. Derek had yet to meet a living creature that could rival his adroitness. A young selkie would be hardly a match. His blood would spill in a matter of moments.

The selkie went silent after that, picking up one the clams Derek had brought him, turning it gently in his hands, tapered fingers delicately grazing the ruffled surface. “Will you not shed your pelt?” He asked, tilting his head and trapping the wolf with his enrapturing gaze. His soft lips quirked at the corners, sardonic. “You must not have poise with your human shape, then?” With finesse, the seal sunk his nails between the lips of the clam and pulled its shell open with a loud crack. Derek was being taunted. A low rumble bubbled out through his teeth. The wolf was given a purely uninterested look in return; the selkies’ scent remained clear and unaffected. Lacking the expected fear. “I am not afraid of you.” He spoke tersely, taking a small sip of the salty liquid pooled within the shell of the clam. “You think highly of yourself, with your fangs and claws. That’s your shortcoming however.”

It was then, in a single, liquid movement that Derek shifted. It had been years since he had last taken his human form; unfamiliar and painful as bones splintered piercingly to restructure and support a bipedal frame, skin humming with fire as thick fur thinned and shortened into course human hair. He pushed back his primordial side, concealing it within the naked skin and thoughtfulness of a man. Derek ignored the weight of the selkies’ eagle-eyed stare and tested his human limbs. He rolled his neck and cracked his jaw, jerking his shoulders and curling his toes against the cold sand.

The selkie made an amused and high pitched sound, one that could not be made with human vocal cords. “I imagine I owe you an apology.” He chirped, rearranging the position of his body against the seaweeds. “Your human façade is more striking than I would have thought.”

The wolf inside of Derek rumbled contently at the selkies’ approval, though he sneered and looked down at the creature. “I have no need for your condescension.” He spoke tersely, his voice rough from lack of usage. The seal made a simpering face, “I suppose not. Do you have a name? Most consider such human things unnecessary, but it would be nice to have a title to call you by.”

“Derek.” The wolf replied, curiosity peaked at the thought of learning the selkies’ name. If he had one. “And what do you call yourself?”

Digging his fingers into the softness of the clam; the selkie ripped several fat strips of the cold, white meat from its shell and popped them into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “My true name is a song of the seal, I couldn’t tell it to you in this shape. Not that you would understand it if I wore my pelt anyway.” Discarding the shell, he then stretched his body languidly against the soft seaweed; his pelt slipped to the ground and left enticing flesh on display. Derek’s instincts howled at him, but he reigned them in and tucked them away. “You can’t remain nameless.” He stated simply, seating himself on the edge of the nest.

“Very true.” The selkie noted, closing his eyes and tilting his faced toward the sun. “My father would call me Stiles.” He cracked an eye open and looked at the wolf before him, “That is my human name.”

“How is it you have two names?”

The selkie sighed sadly, appearing reluctant to answer. A moment passed before he spoke, “my father is a human. Unlike most men though, he was kind and did not bind my mother or I to the land. Because he could not speak the name my mother had gave me, he would call me ‘Stiles’; it’s a shortening of his family’s name. My human name is important to me; it reminds me that I am not just a lonesome beast wandering the sea.”

Derek moved ever so closer, making himself comfortable against the bed of seaweeds. The selkie, _Stiles_ , was a curious creature. Every bit as interesting as Derek had hoped for him to be. “Even without a human name, you wouldn’t just be a lonesome beast. You just might be the most intelligent thing to prowl the waters.”

Stiles snorted, both of delight and of amusement. “I am not the only one of my kind, nor am I the only creature with the mind of a human to roam the deep.” He looked at Derek, eyes twinkling. “You’d be surprised what lies in the depths.”

The wolf simply shrugged. “And I have not met either. I have never met another living being similar to myself, other than my family.” He looked out over the waters, at the dancing waves and the gulls dipping and twisting against the pale blue sky. A rush of thick, salty wind sailed up from the thrashing ocean and whipped over the beach, prickling with cold. “As far as I’m concerned, you _are_ the only creature of your competence to rule in the ocean.”

 _“Rule_.” The selkie repeated, sitting up and wrapping his arms over his knobby knees. “You say it as if I’m some sort of Royal Highness.”

“Maybe you are.” Said Derek, leaning his body back against his propped elbows, “your entire story up to now could be a lie. You may be the prince of a marine realm for all I know.” Stiles shook his head, resting his chin over his crossed arms and staring out at the ocean with an unblinking stare. “If only, though it wouldn’t be a very pleasant kingdom. The brine is lonely and dark, cold and unforgiving. Mother will take as she pleases and give little back.” He exhaled and seemed to shake himself out of an unpleasant memory. “It’s not a kingdom I would wish to rule.”

“Still a kingdom, nonetheless.” Derek mused, “If this very beach were to be my kingdom, I’d only have the gulls and the sea roaches as subjects. Whereas you’d have the whales, the sharks, and whatever else rests in the dark water.”

Stiles looked over at him, something undiscernible brewing behind his sharpened eyes. “Why is that,” he asked, eyebrows arching. “You are a wolf, so why is it that you don’t have a pack?” Derek sighed, his shoulders tensing compulsorily. “I have a pack, or at least _had_ ” he spoke in a low voice. “A small one, they live their lives as humans. Far away from here.” The selkies’ eyes remained locked on him, as if unsatisfied with Derek’s answer and urging him to continue. “I was not a good Alpha.” He grunted, “I made the decision to steal away in the night and move north, allow them to sort out a new and better hierarchy. They will not find me here.”

Stiles blinked at him, eyes iridescent. He reached down and pulled up his pelt, holding it close to him in a tight clutch. “I know nothing of pack dynamics. Seals are mostly solitary creatures you see; even when in groups we prefer our own space and to be separate from one another.” The selkie slipped the pelt back over his shoulders and curled tightly underneath it, and for a moment Derek feared he would turn back into a seal and vanish into the sea, disgusted by Derek’s pusillanimity in the face of his pack. But he did not. “I _do_ have a sense of family however, and I can only imagine the grief your pack may have felt when they woke and discovered you gone.”

“That’s for them to handle on their own.” Derek said, “it’s better this way.” He paused and was struck by a thought. “You say you’re a solitary creature, but by the standards of a human you don’t appear old enough to be unaided. Don’t you have a family of your own?”

“My mother died a long time ago,” Stiles informed pointedly, his voice clipped. “My father… I don’t know where he is. Only that he lives on the land somewhere.” The acrid scent of unhappiness had begun to seep from the selkies’ pores, it made Derek’s inner wolf whine and scrabble at the borders of his consciousness, desperate to lick and nuzzle the scent away. “I want to find my father.” Stiles continued, “I just don’t know where to start looking. My mother would always lead to the way to where he lived and I would follow, but she died before I could be properly taught the direction.”

Memories of the cold, festering seal carcass that had been lying on the beach several years ago flitted through Derek’s mind, causing something icy and heavy to slither into his stomach. He pushed those thoughts away and made an internal promise to never speak of it to Stiles. If the selkie were to learn that Derek may have eaten his mother’s corpse, he could only envision the worst.

“Well,” the wolf started, “do you have _anything_ to start with at all? A specific detail or scent?” Stiles shook his head and sighed. He hauled himself up from the nest with a grunt and headed toward the line of the saline shore, he did not stop until the waves curled around his skinny ankles, foaming and murmuring against the pale skin. “Not a clue,” he answered sadly. “Believe me; I’ve spent far too long thinking on it.” It was then that the wolf made a split-second decision.

“What if I were to help you?”

The seal turned around abruptly, face scrunched in confusion. “And why would you do that?” He asked, incredulous. “Why would a lone wolf spend his time on a lesser creature? Do you not have a deer to kill and territory to hound?” Derek balked at the sudden shift in temperament, though despite this he stood up and took a few steps closer to the selkie, stopping when the chilled water pushed at his toes. “My motives are my own. You are an individual in need of succor, and I will not turn a blind eye to that.”

Stiles remained silent, his face calculating and unsure. “I don’t entirely trust you.” He stated bluntly, hunching his shoulders in a defensive manner. “You would not be the first example of someone to show me charity in exchange for fulfillment to their own… desires.”

Derek curled his lip, revealing a single fang. Ire caused his blood to rush and send heat to the surface of his skin. “If I wanted to take advantage of you, I would have done it already.” The wolf replied in an equally candid way, watching the emotions that flickered over the selkies’ face. “I’ve lived a routine life of eating and sleeping on this beach for years, a change of pace would not be unwelcomed.”

“A change of pace…” The selkie muttered, looking back out over the gray waters. “A change of pace is not helping a pitiable child find his father.”

“It might be to me.” Derek said and stepped forward until he stood shoulder to shoulder with the selkie. “To a wolf, pups are precious. It grates against my being for one as young as yourself to live a life as such as this.” Stiles sniffed, mouth tilting in a smirk.

“You speak as though you are some sort of elder, though I can clearly see that you cannot possibly be more than ten years my senior.” He swiveled his body toward Derek, a decided look overcoming his face. “However, _Derek_ ,” he drew out the name in a slow drawl, seeming to roll it along his tongue. “I like your tenacity. And I accept your service.”

**Author's Note:**

> Things are starting to roll. 
> 
> [tumblr](http://softposey.tumblr.com)  
> 


End file.
